Providing Manageability To An Electronic Device That Supports Location Limited Manageability Functionality

Abstract

A request for a first function is detected 420. The first function is associated with a first device management protocol. A mapping 140 between a device location agnostic device management entity 110 's functions and a device location limited device management entity 130 's functions is accessed 430. The mapping 140 is used to translate 440 from the first function to a second function. The second function is associated with a device management protocol that is different from the first electronic device management protocol. The second function is used to provide 450 manageability to the electronic device 200 B.

1 . A method of providing manageability to an electronic device  200 B that supports location limited manageability functionality, the method comprising:
 detecting  420  a request for a first function, which is associated with a first device management protocol;   accessing  430  a mapping  140  between a device location agnostic device management entity  110 's functions, which are associated with a device location agnostic device management protocol that is used for communicating with a first set of electronic devices regardless of the location of the first set of electronic devices, and a device location limited device management entity  130   130 's functions, which are associated with a device location limited device management protocol that is only capable of communicating with a second set of electronic devices when the second set of electronic devices are in a particular location;   translating  440 , based on the mapping  140 , the first function to a second function, which is associated with a device management protocol that is different from the first electronic device management protocol; and   providing  450  manageability to the electronic device  200 B using the second function.   
     
     
         2 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein:
 the detecting  420  of the request for the first function further comprises detecting the request for a device location limited device management entity  130 's function, which is associated with device location limited device management protocol; and   the translating  440  based on the mapping  140  further comprises translating based on the mapping  140  of the first function to the second function, which is a device location agnostic device management entity  110 's function and is associated with a device location agnostic protocol.   
     
     
         3 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein:
 the detecting  420  of the request for the first function further comprises detecting request of a device location agnostic device management entity  110 's function, which is associated with device location agnostic device management protocol; and   the translating  440  based on the mapping  140  further comprises translating based on the mapping  140  of the first function to the second function, which is a device location limited device management entity  130 's function and is associated with a device location limited protocol.   
     
     
         4 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the mapping  140  is a first mapping  280  and wherein the method further comprises:
 accessing  430  a second mapping  230  between the device location agnostic device management entity  240 's functions, which are associated with the device location agnostic device management protocol that is used for communicating with the first set of electronic devices regardless of where the first set of electronic devices are located, and the device location limited device management entity  210 's functions, which are supported by the electronic device  200 B and are associated with the device location limited device management protocol that cannot be used for communicating with the second set of electronic devices regardless of where the second set of electronic devices are located; and 
 translating  440  based on the second mapping  230  the second function to a third function, which is associated with a device management protocol that is different from the first device management protocol associated with the second function. 
 
     
     
         5 . An apparatus for providing manageability to an electronic device  200 B that supports location limited manageability functionality, the apparatus comprising:
 a function-request-detector  310  configured for detecting  420  a request for a first function;   a mapping-between-device-location-agnostic-functions-and-device-location-limited-functions-accessor  320  configured for accessing  430  a mapping  140  between device location agnostic device management entity  110 's functions, which are associated with a device location agnostic device management protocol that is used for communicating with a first set of electronic devices regardless of where the first set of electronic devices are located, and a device location limited device management entity  130 's functions, which are associated with a device location limited device management protocol that restricts the location of a second set of electronic devices in order to communicate with the second set of electronic devices;   a translator-between-device-location-agnostic-functions-and-device-location-limited-functions  330  configured for translating  440  the first function to a second function based on the mapping  140 ; and   a manageability-provider  340  configured for providing  450  manageability to the electronic device  200 B based on the second function.   
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , wherein the device location agnostic device management entity  110  is an Open Mobile Alliance Device Management (OMA-DM) capable entity. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , wherein the device location limited device management entity  130  is an entity selected from a group consisting of a Web Services Management (WSMAN) capable entity, a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) capable entity, a Technical Requirement-069 (TR-069) capable entity, and a Technical Requirement-111 (TR-111) capable entity. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , wherein the electronic device  200 B is a mobile device and the apparatus  300  provides manageability for the mobile device regardless of where the mobile device is located. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , wherein the electronic device  200 B is behind a firewall and the apparatus  300  provides manageability for the electronic device  200 B by communicating with an entity  110  that is not behind the firewall. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , wherein the electronic device  200 B is behind a network address translation table (NAT) and the apparatus  300  provides manageability for the electronic device  200 B by communicating with an entity  110  that is not behind the NAT. 
     
     
         11 . A computer-usable medium having computer-readable program code stored thereon for causing a computer system to perform a method of providing manageability to an electronic device  200 B that supports location limited manageability functionality, the method comprising:
 detecting  420  a request for a first function, which is associated with a first device management protocol;   accessing  430  a mapping  140  between a device location agnostic device management entity  110 's functions, which are associated with a device location agnostic device management protocol that is used for communicating with a first set of electronic devices regardless of where the first set of electronic devices are located, and a device location limited device management entity  130 's functions, which are associated with a device location limited device management protocol that restricts the location of a second set of devices in order to communicate with the second set of devices;   translating  440  the first function to a second function, which is associated with a second device management protocol that is different from the first device management protocol, based on the mapping  140 ; and   providing  450  manageability to the electronic device  200 B using the second function.   
     
     
         12 . The computer usable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a computer system to perform the method, and wherein:
 the detecting  420  of the request for the first function further comprises detecting the request of a device location limited device management entity  130 's function, which is associated with device location limited device management protocol; and   the translating  440  based on the mapping  140  further comprises translating based on the mapping  140  the first function to the second function, which is a device location agnostic device management entity  110 's function and is associated with a device location agnostic protocol.   
     
     
         13 . The computer usable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a computer system to perform the method, and wherein:
 the detecting  420  of the request for the function further comprises detecting the request for a device location agnostic device management entity  110 's function, which is associated with device location agnostic device management protocol; and   the translating  440  based on the mapping  140  further comprises translating based on the mapping  140  the first function to the second function, which is a device location limited device management entity  130 's function and is associated with a device location limited protocol.   
     
     
         14 . The computer usable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a computer system to perform the method, and wherein the mapping  140  is a first mapping  280  and wherein the method further comprises:
 accessing  430  a second mapping  230  between the device location agnostic device management entity  240 's functions, which are associated with the device location agnostic device management protocol that is used for communicating with the first set of electronic devices regardless of where the first set of electronic devices are located, and the device location limited device management entity  210 's functions, which are supported by the electronic device and are associated with the device location limited device management protocol that cannot be used for communicating with the second set of electronic devices regardless of where the second set of electronic devices are located; and 
 translating  440  based on the second mapping  230  the second function to a third function, which is associated with a device management protocol that is different from the first device management protocol associated with the second function. 
 
     
     
         15 . The computer usable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a computer system to perform the method, and wherein the electronic device  200 B is a mobile device and the method further comprises:
 providing manageability to the mobile device regardless of where the mobile device is located.